Self-evaluations of male and female managers

Two separate samples of males and females holding first-level management positions in United States organizations completed questionnaires which asked for self-evaluation on a number of job-related characteristics and for attributions of causality for successful and unsuccessful job experiences. In support of previous research, results indicated that males evaluated their performance more favorably than did women, and rated themselves as having more ability and greater intelligence. Men also saw ability as more responsible for their success than did women, but the sexes did not differ in attributions to luck, effort, or task. Implications for equal opportunity and potential for change are considered.     

When fit is fundamental: performance evaluations and promotions of upper-level female and male managers

Using archival organizational data, the authors examined relationships of gender and type of position (i.e., line or staff) to performance evaluations of 448 upper-level managers, and relationships of performance evaluations to promotions during the subsequent 2 years. Consistent with the idea that there is a greater perceived lack of fit between stereotypical attributes of women and requirements of line jobs than staff jobs, women in line jobs received lower performance ratings than women in staff jobs or men in either line or staff jobs. Moreover, promoted women had received higher performance ratings than promoted men and performance ratings were more strongly related to promotions for women than men, suggesting that women were held to stricter standards for promotion.     

Prenatal discrimination of a male and a female voice uttering the same sentence

Using a habituation/dishabituation procedure, near-term foetuses (36-39 weeks gestational age) were tested in a low variability HR state, to examine whether they could discriminate between a male and a female voice repeatedly uttering the same short sentence. Prosody and loudness of the two voices were controlled. Once the foetal heart rate (HR) habituated to the first voice, the effect of a second voice was investigated in two experimental conditions: male/female voice and female/male voice. HR variations after the onset of the second voice were compared to those occurring in two control conditions in which the same voice was presented twice (male/female voice and female/female voice). Highly conservative statistical criteria taking each subject's pre-stimulus HR variability into account showed that most foetuses exposed to the voice change displayed decelerative cardiac changes, with no significant difference between the two conditions. These HR decelerations were found in the first seconds following the onset of the new voice, and reached their peak amplitude within 10 s in most subjects. These responses lasted more than 10 s for two-thirds of the experimental subjects. Mostly transient HR accelerations and only a few decelerative changes were recorded in the control subjects. Furthermore, mean amplitudes of these changes were significantly lower than the HR decelerations induced by the new voice in the experimental conditions, suggesting that the latter were not spontaneous HR modifications but rather cardiac responses to the voice change. It is argued that near-term foetuses may perceive a difference between voice characteristics of two speakers when they are highly contrasted for fundamental frequency and timbre.     

Dimensions of need for power: Personalized vs. socialized power in female and male managers

Sex differences in two dimensions of need for Power—Socialized Power (s Pwr) and Personalized Power (p Pwr)—were examined for a sample of 124 managerial women and men. Correlations with job satisfaction were analyzed as well as the ability of two versions of the thematic apperception test (TAT) to measure both s Pwr and p Pwr. Results show that female managers are higher than male managers in the “desirable” s Pwr need and the same in the “less desirable” p Pwr. Socialized Power correlates significantly with job satisfaction for the males, but not for the females. Personalized Power shows no significant correlation for either gender. Both versions of the TAT are interchangeable and scores are comparable for s Pwr and p Pwr.     

A diagnostic-ratio approach to measuring beliefs about the leadership abilities of male and female managers.

This study departed from previous research on gender stereotyping in the leadership domain by adopting a more comprehensive view of leadership and using a diagnostic-ratio measurement strategy. One hundred and fifty-one managers (95 men and 56 women) judged the leadership effectiveness of male and female middle managers by providing likelihood ratings for 14 categories of leader behavior. As expected, the likelihood ratings for some leader behaviors were greater for male managers, whereas for other leader behaviors, the likelihood ratings were greater for female managers or were no different. Leadership ratings revealed some evidence of a same-gender bias. Providing explicit verification of managerial success had only a modest effect on gender stereotyping. The merits of adopting a probabilistic approach in examining the perception and treatment of stigmatized groups are discussed.     

Perinatal exposure to diethylstilbestrol improves olfactory discrimination learning in male and female Swiss-Webster mice

During late prenatal and early postnatal brain development, estrogen induces structural sex differences that correspond to behavioral differences in certain domains such as learning and memory. The typically superior performance of males is attributed to the action of elevated concentrations of estrogen, derived inside neurons from the aromatization of testosterone. In contrast, female performance appears dependent on minimal estrogenic activity. Rat models of the relationship between hormones and cognitive behavior predominate the field, but the advent of genetically modified mice as research tools necessitates development of analogous mouse models. This study examined how early postnatal exposure to the synthetic estrogen diethylstilbestrol (DES) affected the ability of male and female Swiss-Webster mice to learn a two-choice olfactory discrimination and three repeated reversals. Mice treated with subcutaneous injections of DES from postnatal days 1-10 learned reversals more readily than oil-treated controls, a difference that became evident after repeated testing. DES-exposed males and females learned reversals at a comparable rate, suggesting that early postnatal estrogen exposure does not influence this mode of learning through a sexually differentiated mechanism in mice. An analysis of response patterns during qualitatively different phases of reversal learning revealed that DES-induced improvements probably were not due to greater inhibitory control. Instead, DES appeared to enhance associative ability. Early postnatal estrogen exposure may have the potential to preserve certain cognitive skills in adulthood.     

Individuality,species-specific features,and female discrimination of male southern white rhinoceros courtship calls

Animal Cognition - Male vocalizations associated with courtship can play a key role in mate selection. They may help females obtain information about males’ quality and identity and/or may...     

Predicting laboratory aggression against female and male targets: Implications for sexual aggression

This study assessed the ability of several variables to predict men's laboratory aggression against female and male victims. The predictors were chosen on the basis of their associations with sexual aggression against women in naturalistic settings. On the whole, these variables successfully predicted laboratory aggression against the female target but were not similarly related to aggression against the male. The data supported the view that specific factors uniquely contribute to aggression against women. It is suggested that, at least in part, such aggression needs to be examined within the larger context of sexist relations.     

Quantity discrimination in female mosquitofish

The ability in animals to count and represent different numbers of objects has received a great deal of attention in the past few decades. Cumulative evidence from comparative studies on number discriminations report obvious analogies among human babies, non-human primates and birds and are consistent with the hypothesis of two distinct and widespread mechanisms, one for counting small numbers (<4) precisely, and one for quantifying large numbers approximately. We investigated the ability to discriminate among different numerosities, in a distantly related species, the mosquitofish, by using the spontaneous choice of a gravid female to join large groups of females as protection from a sexually harassing male. In one experiment, we found that females were able to discriminate between two shoals with a 1:2 numerosity ratio (2 vs. 4, 4 vs. 8 and 8 vs. 16 fish) but failed to discriminate a 2:3 ratio (8 vs. 12 fish). In the second experiment, we studied the ability to discriminate between shoals that differed by one element; females were able to select the larger shoal when the paired numbers were 2 vs. 3 or 3 vs. 4 but not 4 vs. 5 or 5 vs. 6. Our study indicates that numerical abilities in fish are comparable with those of other non-verbal creatures studied; results are in agreement with the hypothesis of the existence of two distinct systems for quantity discrimination in vertebrates.     

Self-control in male and female rats

Eight male and 8 female Wistar rats were exposed to a discrete-trial procedure in which they chose between the presentation of a small (one pellet) or a large (three pellets) reinforcer. The delay to the small and large reinforcer was 6.0 s in the first condition of Experiment 1. Subjects consistently chose the large reinforcer. When the delay to the small reinforcer was decreased to 0.1 s in the next experimental condition, all subjects continued to choose the large 6.0-s delayed reinforcer. When the contingencies correlated with the two levers were reversed in the next experimental condition, the majority of subjects (5 males and 6 females) still chose the large delayed reinforcer over the small immediately presented reinforcer. The delay to the small reinforcer was maintained at 6.0 s, but the delay to the large reinforcer was varied among 9.0, 15.0, 24.0, and 36.0 s in Experiment 2, in which 4 males and 4 females participated. Most subjects consistently chose the large increasingly delayed reinforcer, although choice for the small 6.0-s delayed reinforcer developed in some females when the large reinforcer was delayed for 24.0 or 36.0 s. These choice patterns were not predicted from a literal application of a model that says choice should favor the alternative correlated with the higher (amount/delay) ratio.     

Pupillary response of male and female subjects to pupillary difference in male and female picture stimuli

On exposure to a series of identical pictures of a young man and a young woman differing only in size of the pupils of the eyes, the eyes of married Ss dilated more to the opposite sex pictures than to the like sex pictures, dilated most to the opposite sex picture with the larger pupils, and dilated least to the like sex picture with the larger pupils. Difficulties with neutral stimuli were noted and an improved method of assessing picture stimuli brightness was described.     

Sex-role identity and male and female homosexuality

The incidences of sex-role outcome within homosexual and heterosexual male and female young adult samples were compared using a fourfold typology (both masculine and feminine, masculine, feminine, neither masculine nor feminine). Sex-role identity disparities between the female groups were more clear-cut; the most striking difference was the high incidence of masculinity (60%) within the homosexual female group. No significant differences for males were found, although a trend was noted toward higher incidence of femininity and lower incidence of masculinity in homosexuals. The second purpose of the study was to search for possible developmental antecedents to heterosexual deficit in unselected college samples. The same key pattern of psychometric indices was identified for males and females. Low heterosexuality and the closest approximation to the modal sex-role identity among homosexuals of their sex were found in females primarily identified with masculine fathers and low in role consistency and in males primarily identified with feminine mothers and low in role consistency.     

Detecting a nonevent: Delayed presence-versus-absence discrimination in pigeons

Eight pigeons were trained on a delayed presence-versus-absence discrimination paradigm in which a sample stimulus was presented on some trials but not on others. If a sample was presented, then a response to one choice key produced food. If no sample was presented, a response to the other choice key produced food. The basic finding was that performance remained constant and well above 50% correct on no-sample trials as the retention interval increased, whereas performance dropped precipitously (to below 50% correct) on sample trials. In the second phase of the experiment, all of the trials were no-sample trials, and reinforcers were delivered probabilistically for one group of pigeons and according to time-based schedules for the other group. The exact reinforcement probabilities used in Phase 2 were those calculated to be in effect on no-sample trials in Phase 1 (according to a discrete-state model of performance). Subjects did not show exclusive preference for the richer alternative on no-sample trials in the first phase, but those in the probabilistic group developed near-exclusive preference for the richer alternative during the second phase. These data are inconsistent with the predictions of the discrete-state model, but are easily accommodated by an account based on signal detection theory, which also can be applied effectively to discrimination of event duration and the “subjective shortening” effect.     

Psychology of male and female communicative activity

The article features a brief overview of theoretical and empirical studies in communication psychology and sociability of men and women, boys and girls. Russian and foreign studies are summarized to point out that girls and women place greater emphasis on communication and interpersonal relations than do boys and men. Moreover, female communication is more emotional. The article presents the results of the author's own empirical study of male and female communicative activity. Communicative activity is viewed as a complex psychological phenomenon, a degree of the subject's willingness to interact. Communicative activity was studied with the test proposed by the Russian psychologist, Krupnov, and designed to detect the following components of communicative activity: dynamic (natural), emotional, motivational, cognitive, regulatory, productive, and two sorts of communication difficulties (operational and personal). Gender differences in communicative activity are shown on a sample of 480 participants aged 18-40 (240 men and 240 women). The article then describes communicative styles of adolescents (130 boys and 130 girls, aged 19-24). Various communicative styles are featured, including "energetic, businesslike," "conformal, emotional," "diplomatic, externally oriented" for boys and "energetic, sociable," "emotional, difficult," and "complaisant, expressive" for girls. Every person's individuality and gender identity are shown to impact their communicative style.     

Beliefs about female and male nonverbal communication

Participants (N= 441) rated from 1 to 10 how frequently or well they believed hypothetical women and men performed each of twenty nonverbal behaviors or skills. Women were believed to use more expressive and involved nonverbal behaviors than men, and to be more skilled at sending and receiving nonverbal messages. Men were believed to be louder and more interruptive, and to display more nervous, dysfluent behaviors. Ratings given to females by females were higher than were ratings in the other gender combinations for over half the variables, which may accurately describe female—female interaction. Perceived gender differences correlated positively with differences reported in observational studies, indicating that beliefs about nonverbal gender differences were generally accurate. The authors wish to thank Tom Leahy for his assistance in data collection.